Three more players have declined qualifying offers from their teams: Mike Napoli, Curtis Granderson and Kendrys Morales. The deadline for free agents to accept qualifying offers is 5 p.m. ET on Monday. All 13 players who received offers are expected to reject them; Ervin Santana, Brian McCann, and Nelson Cruz already made their decisions earlier on Monday.
MLB free agency: Napoli, Granderson, Morales, Cano reject qualifying offers
All 13 players are expected to reject their qualifying offers, but have until 5 p.m ET on Monday to make an official decision.
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Napoli plans to pursue a multi-year deal on the free agent market after learning that an MRI of his hips revealed no deterioration after playing 139 games in 2013, reports Alex Speier of WEEI.com. The 32-year-old was diagnosed with a degenerative hip condition prior to last season which caused his three-year contract to be restructured as a one-year “show-me” deal, but he will seek a longer deal now that he has proven his health.
Morales, 30, is also seeking a multi-year contract, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Morales batted .277/.336/.449 with 23 home runs and 80 RBI in 2013, production which his agent, Scott Boras, referred to as “the new 30 (home runs) and 100 (RBI)” in a reference to the league’s declining offensive numbers.
Granderson’s decision to decline his qualifying offer was “100 percent,” according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The 32-year-old center fielder can likely find a long-term suitor in a free agent market which is short on reliable power hitters despite the fact that he suffered through a lost season in 2013 due to injuries.
UPDATE (2:00 p.m. ET): Robinson Cano has also declined his qualifying offer, reports Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. This was all but a foregone conclusion already given that Cano is seeking a long-term meda-deal in the neighborhood of 10 years, $305 million (or as close to those figures as anyone will give him).
The full list of players who received qualifying offers:
Teams can still negotiate with players who have declined qualifying offers, but if those players sign elsewhere then their original teams receive a first-round draft pick as compensation.
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